Google couldn't buy a piece of Facebook, so it's going after the social networking site's software platform instead. Tomorrow a Google-led alliance will introduce a common platform for software developers to write programs for Google's social site, Orkut, along with LinkedIn, hi5, Friendster, Plaxo, Ning and others. The hope is to one-up Facebook, the New York Times reports.
The platform, called OpenSocial and compatible across all companies, aims to 'forestall Facebook’s ability to get everyone writing just for Facebook,' an insider said. The success of Facebook's platform has shown the value of combining social networks with news feeds to distribute software. OpenSocial hopes attract developers with its combined 100 million users, more than double Facebook's. (More Google stories.)